DoubleTree by Hilton Van — Hotel in Edremit

I was really excited about our (2 adults, 2 kids) stay here because the hotel was so cheap we were able to get the Presidential Suite for something like $130/night! It had a bedroom with a king, 1.5 bathrooms (including a large whirlpool tub), office, large living room/dining room open room, and a small kitchenette with a full fridge, sink, and stove top (though no plates or pots, so you'd have had to bring your own). We also got a twin bed for our 7 year old. We were excited to have plenty of space to spread out for the 3 nights we were there.

However, while it was large and gave us space, there were enough negatives about it that we were more than ready to depart. The A/C was off (this was mid October). Rooms were 27C, or 80F. No fans and the windows had signs not to open due to mosquitoes. We ended up ignoring that and opening up the windows that we could. No mosquitoes, but there was no breeze and outside was a similar temperature, so it didn't help. We talked to the front desk to find out if the A/C was broken or turned off and they told us it was broken and they'd send a repair man right away. My husband waited in the room for 2 hours. After the first hour, we checked back in and they said someone was coming. After the 2nd hour, we checked in again and someone said, "Oh, the A/C is off in the building."

The bed was also the most uncomfortable of all the 6 hotels we stayed in on our trip. Extremely hard. So hard, that I used sofa pillows to lay on top of the mattress and slept on them. The kitchen was also stinky, with foul aromas coming up through the piping. There were also unusual outlet situations. In the office, there was a desk with a floor lamp next to it. However, there was no outlet anywhere near the lamp, so it was unusable.

We also struggled with room service. Our first night, we ordered room service for me and the kids and it took 40 minutes to arrive. The pizza was ok, though not great. The grilled vegetables and chocolate soufflé were delicious. Later that night, my husband ordered room service for himself and it never arrived. He called back down and they acted like they'd never heard of the order. It eventually came.

On a positive note, the shower had great water pressure and the kids enjoyed the whirlpool tub--it even had lights that turned on and changed colors! The staff in the restaurant was very friendly. Breakfast was staff-served buffet, the only place of 6 on our trip that kept the buffet open (most switched to a plated mini Turkish breakfast with eggs made to order...

We left with mixed feelings about this place. Not a true “five star” hotel experience, but better than their competitions in the small city of Van.

Good: rooms are super-spacious. Some with a beautiful view of the lake, and some with a balcony. Reserve a king with balcony and lake view if possible to get the most out of your money!

Bad: service is not the best and far short of what one would expect out of a “5-star”hotel. English proficiency is scarce, attitudes are disturbing, and many things are “broken”. Spa experience was not pleasant and rather rough. It gets super loud every single night as it appears to be hosting every wedding in the town! Hilton honors benefits are neglected. They attempted to charge us for water, no room upgrades, and some shitty attitude from the reception on some interactions.

Ugly: they keep your passports as if you are taken hostage. Van is surrounded by many police stops, and holding your guests’ passports for such stupid reasons reception presented sets guest up for trouble!! You know how picky Turkish police are, so why make such a stupid policy?! Restaurant insists you pay on spot instead of charging to the room with the excuse that their system being down, but I refused to pay cash once and all of a sudden their system started to work!! Reception does next to nothing to accommodate any requests including room changes or changing reservations, and the most simple services are delivered with the most disgusting attitudes and comments such as “we make and exception for you this time” for simply doing their expected tasks. You can talk to your villager guests like that not to me!!!

It was among the least pleasant experiences we have had at a Hilton specially as Honor members.

Thank you to Faik bey, who speaks Persian, and to Zafer bey, the general manager, for making an effort to meet us and apologize for the shortcomings at the check out. A bit too late but a very nice gesture.

The bell boy and security were excellent though. Thank you!!🙏🏼

Thank you for hosting my...

Failing at almost every single possible level. My second Hilton hotel for that particular week, the other one being Hilton Garden in Erzurum, which was simply fantastic(only 3 stars). Unlike my previous Hilton experiences, this one is kinda disastrous. The suite I have booked came with ants (a lot of them and mostly on one of the tables in the living room). Another amazing feature of the suite was the lack of light switches. The living room cannot have the lights on UNLESS the bedroom has its too(connected lamps)… This is the biggest nonsense of a suite I have ever had. Since this is a 5 star hotel I expected at least gluten-free bread for breakfast (they proudly have mentioned gluten-free pasta on their room service menu…). The receptionist promised to send a technician to check the lights issue - which in fact is something that cannot be fixed as it has been built like this - illogical. The technician never showed up, so feeling cheated by the receptionist. It took 1h for getting towels to the suite, once we ordered them in the afternoon. The cherry on the top of the cake - I ordered a pompous salad called Walnut salad with sauce - which arrived 1 hour later (room service should change its name to slow service). Unfortunately the salad was the usual Turkish salad you get at any gas station eatery (with A LOT of parsley) and only some walnuts on the top. The sour sauce was missing, so was the overall taste of the folkloric Turkish salad. 1 h is long time for serving such a simple salad. There was a loud wedding happening on the Ground floor at the hotel. Basically, if you want a 5 stars service you should not look for it here. Also, please train the staff into the Hilton Honors program as it took the reception some time to locate my reservation even after loaning my phone to look into it. As said - not a place recommended for a 5 star hotel...